Queering One's Heritage with "Public Obscenities"
Photos credit: Rebecca Calkin
Review by Abby Stuckrath
The night started with a cold beer in my hand as I watched commercials flash across a big screen. I felt like my dad watching Sunday night football. Yet this beer was brewed with basmati rice, and the commercials were a bright collection of Indian products. Buzzing audience members slowly trickled in to watch eyeliner ads and detergent commercials. As my drink grew lukewarm and the lights started to dim, I felt situated in the show’s world before the actors even stepped on stage.
Public Obscenities, written and directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury was performed at Woolly Mammoth Theater until late this month. The show follows Choton (played by Abrar Haque), an Indian-American Ph.D. student visiting his family in Kolkata, India, with his American boyfriend. Choton's goal of researching for his thesis goes haywire when they discover his grandfather's old camera. From redefining one's queerness to coping with loss, Public Obscenities is a versatile show that perfectly dances the line between ambiguous and obvious.
Photo credit: Rebecca Calkin
Chowdhury wrote the show in English and Bangla, his first language. The actors flew beautifully between each language, never slowing down the pace of the scenes, perfectly immersing the audience into Chowdhury's bilingual homage to home.
In the first scene, we see Choton catch up with his relatives, all while Raheem (played by Jakeem Dante Powell), his boyfriend, is sitting there in silence, barely understanding a word.
The bilingual nature of the show could have many non-Bangla-speaking audience members questioning how they will understand the dialogue. Don't worry, the show has subtitles — sometimes. There are no subtitles in the first twenty minutes of the show, even though most of the dialogue is in Bangla.
It’s a brilliant way of opening up with Raheem's perspective, or the "American" viewpoint, as he is the only one in the show who doesn't speak Bangla. The audience is forced to live in the awkwardness of the unknown, one in which Raheem lives or the entirety of the show.
Photo credit: Rebecca Calkin
Haque's portrayal of Choton was brilliant yet frustrating. Haque made me hate Choton in one scene and then love him in another. He breathes complexity into a character that could very easily fall flat. Powell took a quiet approach to his character Raheem, allowing his character's personality to bloom both vocally and physically as Raheem began to feel more comfortable during his visit.
Golam Sarwar Harun had the most challenging role on stage, playing Jitesh, the family's servant. The role had few lines yet he was on stage often, and Harun's embodiment of the character was entrancing. With just his eyes, I could feel and hear Jitesh's feelings without any words.
Watching Pishimoni, played by Gargi Mukherjee, and Pishe, played by Debashis Roy Chowdhury, banter on stage was truly delightful. They both brought astounding energy to the stage. In the show, Pishimoni takes a rollercoaster emotional journey, which Mukherjee balances perfectly. She never once let her character feel one-dimensional or stagnant.
The language barrier between Raheem and his Indian hosts allows for some gorgeous moments of silence. In these moments audience members are reminded of the brilliant yet subtle effects that sound designer Tei Blow worked into the piece. From the cackling of crows every time Pishimoni went to feed them, to the soft echoes of street vendors trickling in from the window. Blow's techniques further immersed the audience into the sounds of the Kolkata neighborhoods. My favorite effect was Pishe's incessant clicking on his keyboard keys while playing an online pool game.
Photo credit: Rebecca Calkin
Almost every scene takes place in Choton's aunt and uncle's home of dull battered yellow walls, adorned with few decorations, except for a large portrait of Choton’s grandfather. This photo tends to haunt Choton, a reminder of his childhood and his pressures to always succeed. Set designer Peiyi Wong’s portrayal of Kolkata homes was affirmed when I heard an audience member whisper to her friend saying it reminded her of her relatives' home in India.
The concept of queering one's native language is an emotional and compelling narrative that Chowdhury plays within the show. Watching Choton begin to learn new queer words and phrases in Bangla felt like watching him shed new skin. In a beautiful scene with Shou, played by Tashnuva Anan, Choton explores his queerness in a way that embraces his Indian heritage instead of viewing them as entirely separate beings.
The complexity of LGBTQ+ culture in India and the United States is not the only theme that Chowdhury tackles in this show. There are too many to count. One would need to attend the show two or three more times to be able to dissect all of the subtle messages woven into this play. But that's how he would like it.
The show's goal is not to pick up or even understand every theme thrown your way but to understand that everything has a meaning, whether of great purpose or not. As an audience member, I kept waiting for all of my questions to be answered by the end of the show, only for none of them to be. Yet, I didn't leave disappointed or frustrated; instead, I left impressed that Chowdhury allowed every audience member to leave the show carrying what felt most important to them rather than pushing one narrative as more important than another. The discussions of queer culture, the South Asian representation, the technical elements, the themes of legacy, and the class dynamics are all potential perspectives that audience members could have carried with them after leaving the theater.
Costume Design by Sukanya Chakrabarti; Lighting Design by Barbara Samuels; Hair/Makeup Styling by Tommy Kurzman; Prop Design by Patricia Marjorie; Intimacy Directing by Teniece Divya Johnson; Intimacy consulting by Shaquan M. Pearson.
“Public Obscenities” at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D ST. NW, Washington DC.
Abby Stuckrath (she/her) is a senior at American University studying Journalism with a minor in Women and Gender Studies. Her work is featured in American University's school paper, The Eagle, and the Educational Theatre Association Dramatics Blog. Throughout the past year, Abby has worked with the Sexual Health Alliance (SHA), writing blogs featuring stories on sex and sexuality education. With SHA, she also produces and hosts a journalistic podcast series called the Nymphomedia Podcast. Currently, she is a communications intern with the Human Rights Campaign.